TicketsDAYTON, Ohio — First-year head coach Jerrod Calhoun picked up career win No. 300 as the Cincinnati men’s basketball team blew past Dayton, 95-72, Saturday night at UD Arena. With the win, the Bearcats improve to 3-1 while the Flyers drop to 1-3.
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Riley Allenspach led the Bearcats with 20 points to go along with five boards, while Tyler Tejada poured in 16 with a game-high nine rebounds. Elijah Perryman and MJ Collins Jr. each added a dozen. Amael L’Etang paced Dayton with 19 points and seven boards.
The Bearcats connected on four of their first five from deep, including a pair of triples from Perryman, to take a 14-4 lead less than five minutes into the contest. The lead swelled to 15 at 24-9 on an MJ Collins Jr. free throw at the 12:24 mark but Dayton scored the next six, including a 4-point play from Grant Randall, to make it a 24-15 contest with 11:08 to play in the half.
However, Cincinnati connected on six of its next seven from the field, pushing its lead right back up to 15 at 39-24 on a Tyler Tejada three from the right wing with just under seven minutes remaining in the half. The Bearcats then tightened up defensively, limited the Flyers to two buckets over the final six minutes on their way to a 52-34 lead at the half.
Tejada led Cincinnati at the half with 12 points, while Allenspach poured in 11 as the Bearcats shot 64.5% (20-for-31) from the field and 61.5% (8-for-13) from deep in the opening 20 minutes.
Dayton cut the Cincinnati lead to 61-53 on a Julian Washington triple with 12:29 left to play but the Bearcats scored the next seven, capped off by an Akai Fleming three-point play, to push the advantage right back to 15 at 68-53 with 11:28 remaining.
The Bearcats then used a 6-0 run on three buckets at the rim by Allenspach, Collins Jr. and Tylen Riley to put the game out of reach at 88-63 with 4:49 left to play.
Cincinnati hosts Youngstown State at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday at Fifth Third Arena.